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Monday, August 25, 2014

Sponsor Spotlight No.3 - Crafty Individuals

Claudia here to invite you to our third Sponsor Spotlight for August! Today it is my turn and huge pleasure to introduce to you a lovely stamp set by this month's prize sponsor

I immediately fell in love with their gorgeous stamp set CI-207 "Ferns and Grasses":

and created this wall hanging for your inspiration:

First I started with stamping the single ferns and grasses with black archival stamping ink onto heavy white printer paper. I left enough space so each would fit with a separate rectangle (which I drew with a pencil and ruler).

Then I cut them all out. I didn't see to same sizes, so you don't have to measure exactly. It's the right angles for the panels we are looking for.

Next I applied three puddles of various Distress stains (Tea Dye, Weathered Wood and Tumbled Glass) on my non stick craft sheet.

Then I took the first of my stamped grass/fern panels and sprayed it with water from the bottle. Once my panel was slightly wet I randomly swiped its edges through the puddles...

...to create something like this:

I did so with all my cut out panels and set them aside to dry. Once they were dry they looked like this:

I love how the watercolour effect creates this "glow" in the centers of the panels!

Then I blended the edges of my panels with DI "Gathered Twigs" (using the ink blending tool).

After that I sprinkled on various colours from my colour spray collection to achieve a weathered and aged look:

For my background I used a square sheet of brown craft paper which I misted with water from the spray bottle and crumpled into a ball to create a highly textural surface to put my panels on.

Once this paper had dried I sprinkled on some paints too and made the creases more visible by applying DI "Gathered Twigs" to them.

I cut another square of the same size from some thick corrugated card (from left over packaging material) to mount my background to (using DecoArt matte Decou-Page).

Then I arranged my stamped grasses and ferns on the panel and glued them in place too. I also added some brads (from Red Lead) for more detail.

I still had one of those fab wood cut beetles (from Um Wow Studio), which I coloured with Distress paints (Wild Honey, Antiqued Bronze) and let dry.

Once it had dried I used my fingertips to apply some DecoArt Traditions "Raw Umber" to the edges and wipe it around. Before that colour dried completely I took some of it off with a soft cloth.

The beetle was glued in place with matte Decou-Page. As I had green and blue colour tones with my grass and fern panels I went for a contrasting colour with the beetle. This makes the greens and blues pop even more.

The quote (from Hal Borland) was printed out on my computer, the words were cut out and the edges blended with DI "Gathered Twigs" before I glued them in place too.

It says "Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence."

For a finish I added a piece of lace ribbon to the bottom of the wall hanging and a string of rough cord on top.

I hope you like my wall hanging! I leave you with some more close-ups and I also want to remind you of our actual challenge "Summertime", which is still open until 11:55 pm on August 28th!

This is a Beautiful hanging, Claudia! That beetle FREAKS me out!! AHHH! LOL ;) But it's the perfect touch for the fauna that's on exhibit! So pretty and I love the paint and ink splatters :) XOXO-Shari T.

Claudia, tried all different ways to email you and connect with you, personally... but I just wanted to say that your comment which I read also to my hubby brought tears of happiness to my heart... I shook when I read it... it was so very beautiful... THANK YOU for your SINCERE love... I totally appreciate that with all my love and heart... my email is bonniemclain626@gmail.com would love to say more... Love, Light and Peace...Bonnie